Pitru Paksh At Banganga Walkeshwar ..2012

Pitru Paksh At Banganga Walkeshwar ..2012, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

This morning barefeet I took a train to Grant Road a share a cab to Walkeshwar to shoot Pitru Paksh ..At Banganga .. I shot from 7 am till 9.30 am.. My tribute and my documentary Hope and Hindutva A message of Peace Harmony Humanity ..And this time less fish will die as Mrs Jyotsana Mehta Corporator was leading from the front too see that the waters are not choked with the puja leaves ...and a symbolic ritual touch the leaves in the waters and place it in special containers .. The Banganga tank looked clean neat and the makeshift boats rafts kept removing the leaves ..I have been shooting Pitru Paksh since 2005 onwards..

The sadhu in the picture sits outside a temple at Banganga and I salute him with a Jai Shree Ram and I shoot his pictures ..I have been shooting him since the time I started shooting Pitru Paksh or Pitru Visarjan, where the North Indians from Uttar Pradesh .. migrants locals too come to pay tribute to their departed ancestors.

The people selling the puja ingredients are all Maharashtrian ladies .. young girls and boys..

This time as mentioned above the Banganga tank was less cluttered with the puja leaves ..thanks to the efforts of the authorities and Lodha Builders too..

My photo documentary of Piru Paksh begins with the shooting of the barbers , the North Indians get their heads tonsured and this place has the largest number of barbers and bald people .

There were a few Bandra barbers too ..street barbers whom I shoot in my area..and while returning home one of the barbers a Muslim guy traveled with me, he looks like a Muslim too and was telling me that most of the hardcore Brahmins dont use his services but the younger ones have no issue ..so I asked him why he came , his reply was understandable he gets good money ..though what he charges them is what he charges in Bandra Rs 50 a haircut.

However as I shoot barbers and this part of the tonsure will be added to my set called Barberisms at Flickr.com

The light was good I was early and I shot from a friends boat too .. these were good close shots I carried my Canon EOS 7D .. there weren't many photographers just photojournalist Bipin Kokate of Midday Group.

I came back by train..and this is a long series ..

At the Banganga I also shot pictures of a Swami Smarth puja in progress ..
One thing I like here is that almost everyone knows me and people go out of their way to get me good pictures ..especially the local resident volunteers of Banganga.

And as a good omen I shot a hijra too begging at the temple near the banks and hordes of beggars that the North Indians feed or give alms ..to appease the soul of their departed forefathers.